Robin Dunbar on friends—the cure for all that ails us
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May 16 • 1HR 16M
Robin Dunbar on friends—the cure for all that ails us
On the podcast, I speak with Robin Dunbar, author of "Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships"
Appears in this episode
Meghan Murphy
Meghan Murphy and guests embrace authenticity, and have real, honest discussions about culture, politics, relationships, internet wars, the media social justice, cancel culture, and more. Conversations outside the algorithm.
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Friends are fun, but they bring much more to our lives than just company. In his book, Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships, Robin Dunbar explains why, beyond mental health benefits, friends offer longer, healthier lives. (And no, online friends don't count.)
Robin is an anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, and head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Oxford. I spoke with him about why we need friends, how to make them, what the magic number of friends is, and why human touch is the real truth-teller.
Robin Dunbar on friends—the cure for all that ails us
I'm a licensed massage therapist.
A lot of people never experience human touch in their daily lives. They go to a massage therapist and pay to experience human touch. That doesn't seem right.
A lot of people haven't any friends. They go to a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist, and pay them to fill the void.